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Category Archive › Despair, Inc.
Happy Valentine’s Day (sorta) from the Undies:
College Humor offers holiday cards.
Diesel Sweeties, too, has cards aplenty.
Despair has BitterSweets Candies and a heart-shaped card that you can personalize with one or three hearts.
JibJab has tons of themed Sendables waiting for you to make them your own.
Perhaps sensing all of the above, Indexed commented on the (possibly […]
I recently highlighted Despair’s BitterSweets relaunch. In their typically super-creative fashion, they have amplified this product and taken it to a completely new level. Fans can now share their own expressions of dejection, dysfunction, and Despair.
At iheart.despair.com, you can:
- make your own custom, candy-heart image with anything you would like to say (in two lines of six characters each);
- email that image to friends;
- buy a custom, heart-shaped greeting card with your image on the front and your own text on the inside; and
- even load your card into a BitterSweets candy tin, into which it fits just perfectly.
In addition, since this product is completely integrated with their store, you can purchase these items in the same order as a t-shirt, mug, and custom calendar.
This is some seriously cool stuff. Share the love.
Dysfunctional. Dumped. Dejected. Which are you? Or maybe all three?
So today Despair soft-launched their new line of Gift Cards.
These cards parody the seemingly endless number of precious-metal credit cards. Despair’s Card comes in Rust, Pyrite (shown) and Tin. But this isn’t everything. The cards are working physical gift certificates. Each is serialized, like any gift card, each can be redeemed online at their store. They’re printed on metallic card stocks, feature embossed alphanumeric gift codes as well as a scratch off panel on the back. (What’s under the scratch off? I’ll never tell.)
Perhaps this kind of thinking is a byproduct of being undependent?
Diesel Sweeties and Despair
How about a Diesel Sweeties & Despair crossover? Metal Steve modeling for Despair, and Dr. Kersten giving Red Robot management lessons? Just saying.
Despair’s Bittersweets — The Valentine’s candy for the rest of us — come in two downtrodden collections, Dejected and Dysfunctional.
Dejected sayings include:
- TABLE FOR 1
- PROG FAN
- WE HAD PLANS.
Dysfunctional sayings include:
- RETURN 2 PIT
- C THAT DOOR?
- U WATCH CMT
I couldn’t help but think about these candies after reading a couple of comics today.
Enjoy:
Your store links: xkcd; Qwantz; Bittersweets.
Recent Undie goodness:
- Get out your credit card. Share the Despair. You can see all five new Demotivators here. I think this one is my favorite.
- Strong Bad answered an email about business travel. His commentary on webcomics last week reminded me of a classic from the Penny Arcade archives. It seems Gabe and Tycho anticipated the joke by, oh, about eight years.
- Tiki Bar TV unveiled their latest, Ice Breaker. Check the awesome new mug at the end of the episode.
- Just in time for Halloween, JibJab has served up two zombie reels (one featuring Democrats, the other Republicans) for their popular Starring You series of Sendables. Undie cat Aaron Simpson created his; you can, too.
Click the mug to get your drink on:
Your store links: Despair; Homestar Runner; Penny Arcade; Tiki Bar TV; JibJab; Aaron Simpson’s Cold Hard Flash.
Some of our favorite Undies have been busy:
- Ask a Ninja question 56 “Back in the Day“
- Despair busts undependent.com and millions of others;
- Eepy Bird takes note (Digg it);
- Richard Stevens of Diesel Sweeties on undependence;
- Join this community, or the Ninja might have to, well… you know;
- Have you seen Tiki Bar TV’s “The Wedding” episode yet? It rocks.
- Don’t miss the Web Comics Weekly episode about channels;
- Rooster Teeth talked with CNN.
- The latest from Perry Bible Fellowship. Genius. (NSFW)
- JibJab’s launched another Starring You called Unnecessary Force. Undie and friend of the Undie Aaron Simpson has created his own. Why don’t you?
We like trying out new Undies, and we hope you do, too. Enjoy.
Feel free to recommend your favorite Undies to us. Thanks.
If you would like to support these Undies, here are your store links: Ask a Ninja; Despair; Eepy Bird; Diesel Sweeties; Tiki Bar TV; Rooster Teeth Productions; Perry Bible Fellowship; JibJab; Cold Hard Flash; and the four good folks behind Web Comics Weekly — Scott and Kris, Kris and Scott of Half Pixel; Evil, Inc.; and Sheldon. Undies need your support; buy directly from these creators and enjoy all their great stuff.
Undies thrive on a direct connection with their fans. Audiences definitely appreciate the ability to interact with creators, whether at conventions or online. This direct relationship lets creators earn and enjoy high unit margins on their sales because they often need no label, publisher, wholesaler, retailer, etc.
Successful community strategies vary as widely as the Undies themselves. For instance:
- Despair, Inc. lets their fans build their own Demotivators. In addition, Despair offers excellent promotions to members of their Wailing List.
- JibJab has a massive community presence and lets fans star in their own clips;
- Penny Arcade has forums at their site, and they host their own monster convention, the Penny Arcade Expo, that this year brought together almost 40,000 fans for three days of gaming festivities.
- Rooster Teeth Productions has built perhaps the greatest Undie community site around. Check these amazing stats:
The web continues to evolve new ways to build and manage your community. TechCrunch has reviewed nine such tools. I like Ning a lot myself.
Ask A Ninja has announced an upcoming upgrade to their community platform. We’re eager to see what the Ninja unleashes for fans.
Creators, how do you encourage and engage your tribe?
Fans, what community features do you like the most?
–JLB
Recent article goes semi-behind the scenes at Despair and finds a big Amplifier.
You may know them better by their clients: Besides Despair, there’s Penny Arcade, Rooster Teeth, JibJab, Ask a Ninja, and Tiki Bar TV. Amplifier is designed to facilitate business for the creative sector, whether that’s fulfillment, distribution, customer service, or anything else that might otherwise be outsourced. This lets small businesses do things like personalize orders, include bonus items for certain customers, tailor their phone support to the feel of their company, and be able to focus on ideas, not management.
